


Snap

by WhereverMySITakesMe



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU Where Bucky Isn't Frozen, Bucky Barnes Helps, Card Games, F/M, I'm Not Sure Why Nat is There, Nightmares, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 11:46:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8444572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereverMySITakesMe/pseuds/WhereverMySITakesMe
Summary: The first thing Bucky says to Wanda after they meet again is "Go Fish". He doesn't speak to her for over a month while they live with T'Challa. She's struggling so much, he doesn't want to confuse her (she doesn't seem to like it when Scott talks to her, she prefers Steve and Clint) and he feels partially responsible for how much she is struggling (they left her to the authorities. They had more important things to do). But one day he sets up the game before she wakes up and sits waiting for her, holding his cards in his hands. When she comes into the room he says, "Go Fish". But he means "I remember you", "I'm sorry", "I want to help you" and maybe even "I still think you are beautiful".She holds up six fingers then makes a heart shape with her hands without even looking at the cards he dealt her. Perhaps that means "I remember you", "I forgive you", "I want your help" and "Thank you".Or that she's forgotten the rules of the game.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to be a sequel to http://archiveofourown.org/works/7686352

Once upon a time HYDRA locked their two greatest weapons in a cabin together. Perhaps they were meant to train each other or fight to the death. Instead they played card games and planned an escape.

Their plan didn't work (Wanda blames herself, Bucky blames himself. Pietro blamed Bucky) and no one lived happily ever after. Still, the meeting changed things. Wanda told Bucky he was a person and that he deserved to be free(he forgot of course, but maybe it was in his subconscious). Bucky told Wanda that she should torture Tony Stark so she wouldn't be left with blood on her hands (she tried to have it both ways and make sure he died but not at her hand).

It's years later that they meet again in Wakanda but, somehow, despite the odds against it, they remember each other.

***  
They play cards again and it's exactly the same, except for the ways that it's different. For example, Wanda is talking with her hands instead of her mouth (neither of them can remember why) and they both feel heavy and slow, like their bodies are full of lead.

Wanda succumbs first, melting into a puddle of unconsciousness on the floor. Bucky kneels next to her to check she's still breathing (she is) then lies down beside her (with his forehead pressed against hers) to pass out.

Perhaps this way they won't have nightmares.

(They do.)

***  
She says if she touched him she'd leave dirty handprints on his soul.

Poor Wanda gets things confused still. Like when she put orange juice on her cereal or when she couldn't remember how the television worked (it is a complex machine)and threw the remote across the room. This is another episode like that. It's him who would leave blood stained handprints all over her.

***  
Wanda's mug (tea, not coffee. Clint says she doesn't need caffeine in her system to mess her mind up more) shatters on the floor. She's terrified. Absolutely terrified. Bucky's getting good at knowing what causes her fear and he thinks it's Natasha again. He moves in front of her, protectively, wanting her to feel safe.

Natasha thinks it's her too because she says, "Wanda, I'm not going to hurt you. I've been here two weeks, do you not remember at all?"

Clearly, she doesn't.

***  
Maybe if she used her powers she could help him. Maybe she could help **herself**.

***  
Bucky has several bad days in a row. He doesn't know how many exactly. He spends the whole time in his room, mostly huddled in the corner in a fog of paranoia. Steve, apparently, stays with him and manages to get at least a little food and water into him and to coax him into leaving the corner and getting a couple of hours sleep(Bucky doesn't want any of these things).

He finally finds the courage or focus or memory or whatever to escape his room (just to the living room, it's all he can manage). He stares at a wall. He's tired. Wanda sits next to him. She signs, "I missed you". She's beautiful. And she missed him.

***

The first thing he says to her after they meet again is "Go Fish".

He doesn't speak to her for over a month while they live with T'Challa. She's struggling so much, he doesn't want to confuse her (she doesn't seem to like it when Scott talks to her, she prefers Steve and Clint) and he feels partially responsible for how much she is struggling (they left her to the authorities. They had more important things to do).

But one day he sets up the game before she wakes up and sits waiting for her, holding his cards in his hands. When she comes into the room he says, "Go Fish". But he means "I remember you", "I'm sorry", "I want to help you" and maybe even "I still think you are beautiful".

She holds up six fingers then makes a heart shape with her hands without even looking at the cards he dealt her. Perhaps that means "I remember you", "I forgive you", "I want your help" and "Thank you".

Or that she's forgotten the rules of the game.

 

***  
Bucky starts to share his precious memories with her. He didn't like to tell them to anyone except Steve. He isn't quite sure why. Perhaps they wouldn't understand. Or maybe he doesn't want to just give away something so valuable to him (that doesn't make sense, he knows that).

But apparently living in the 1940s in America is not that different from living in the 2000s in Sokovia or maybe poverty is pretty much the same everywhere. And he can't seem to deny Wanda something that makes her happy. He reminds her of her brother.

***  
Her touch is still the way it was before, soft and gentle and warm, but she's stingier with it. She used to touch him over and over, a hand on his or his cheek or arm or leg, but now her hands stay close to her. Perhaps she needs the comfort they provide or perhaps her world has become too dark a place for her to try to lighten it (she never smiles anymore).

***  
Wanda tells him how she and Vision slept together while they were alone in the compound (it is meant to be a reason he can't kiss her but he still doesn't understand).

"I'm so sorry Bucky" She keeps repeating. "I just wanted to feel loved"

Bucky wants to make her feel loved more than anything. But she won't let him (maybe he would do it wrong anyway).

***  
Bucky's eyes feel like they're coated with sand and he's blinking slowly and heavily. He can't remember when he last slept (the nightmares are the worst thing, he's decided). Opposite him Wanda is eating toast but every bite looks like a struggle. In a few moments she's going to fold her arms and put her head on the table, too tired to go on.

"Bucky," Natasha says encouragingly. She's supposed to be looking after him and Wanda even though he has said that he doesn't need looking after (he survived on his own for months in Romania, he can look after himself).  
Crap, he has toast that he's meant to be eating. He picks up a slice and takes a bite. Chews. Swallows. Wanda folds her arms and puts her head on the table.

Natasha sighs. "Next time I get to go be a secret Avenger and Clint stays with the PTSD twins"

Twins.

Wanda's head snaps up and her eyes glow red with anger. Natasha's eyes widen and she steps backwards. She's scared Wanda will hurt her (even though Wanda doesn't use her powers anymore).

Bucky isn't scared.

***  
Wanda starts coming to him for comfort. When her breath is in gasps and her skin is clammy one of her shaking hands wraps itself around Bucky's fingers, which instinctively wrap around hers (she can't sign why she is afraid. Perhaps it's the collar of her shirt. She doesn't like things touching her neck).

At first it takes him a moment to process that she thinks he can help her (it's not just that he's the only person near enough) but as soon as he does he starts to move his thumb in soothing circles over her wrist and try to reassure her. "It's okay, Wandie" (He's heard Steve call her that) "I'm here, everything is okay. Just breathe."

***  
One night Bucky has a dream. Not a nightmare. A beautiful, happy, dream.

The dream starts with him waking up (strangely) in an apartment somewhere in Eastern Europe, Hungary perhaps. He can hear a baby crying in the next room and he thinks, "I'll get her and let Wanda rest" because Wanda looks after the little one all day long while he works at the docks, supporting his family.

Steve wants to know why Bucky wakes up crying rather than screaming but he can't bring himself to explain.

***  
Anyone can play snap. Wanda said that before and it's true.

A witch can teach it to a weapon.

A soldier can remember the rules when he can't remember his own name.

Two broken people can play together day in and day out.

You can play after three straight days without a wink of sleep.

You can play with shaking hands.

You can play if you can't remember where you are or who you are.

Sometimes playing snap can help.


End file.
